Part 15 (2/2)

The only thing to do was to bring the whole working force away with the steamer. Capt. McCorquodale was in command, Capt. McGiffin having been appointed to the _Chicora_.

A small party of friends had come down for the trip up, among them Alderman John Baxter, of Toronto a genial soul, whose girth was not far from equalling his height, he was the very embodiment of merriment and was a most excellent singer. As the most elderly member we dubbed him The Chaplain, although perhaps he was not the most sedate. Mr. Ross Hayter, a Tea Planter cousin, lately Come from a.s.sam, and who was the first to introduce Indian package tea to Canada, was installed as the Doctor, and Mr. Gus Foy, brother of Mr. John Foy, ably acted as Steward.

We left in the morning with the decks enc.u.mbered by every description of material for all trades.

As each rounded point, and changing turn of this island-studded channel came in view one could not but recall that along these waters once came from Montreal, and Cataraqui, the fleet of canoes carrying the families of the Six Nations Indians to the new homes, which had been given them by the British Government, to replace those in the State of New York, which they had lost by their loyal adherence to the King's cause during the War of the Revolution. One party under Chief Deseronto had determined to stop at a reservation which had been selected on the sh.o.r.es of the Bay of Quinte.

Before leaving _Cataraqui_, the communion service which had been given to their ancestors by Queen Anne in 1712, for their chapel in the Mohawk Valley in the Colony of New York, had been divided between the bands, the larger share being given to the more numerous party under Chief Brant, which separating from their Deseronto companions went onward up Lake Ontario to their reservation upon the banks of the Grand River.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The CHIPPEWA in Toronto Harbour. page 174]

These reservations are still occupied by their descendants, who are ardent militia men, serving with intense activity in the Indian companies of the 37th Haldimand Rifles, one of the most efficient in the Canadian Militia.

All Canadians, should remember that these quiet featured men are the lineal descendants of those steadfast ancestors, who gave up their homes and all for the British cause, and were the first United Empire Loyalists to come to Canada.

Later after 1783, other migrations came up these inner channels.

These were the United Empire Loyalists, descendants of the British pioneers and settlers who had founded the English colonies in America, but who having fought on the King's side in the Revolution were driven out of their homes and their property confiscated, but who chose, rather than foreswear their allegiance, to come north into the forests of Canada where they could live beneath the British flag under which they and their fathers had been born.

It was a meeting, too, with the first steamboat ventures of Upper Canada, for on ”Finkle's Point,” which we pa.s.sed, the _Frontenac_, the first steamer to sail on Lake Ontario, had been built in 1815.

_Chicora_ and _Cibola_ together carried the troops to camp and performed the services of the route for 1888. The leaving times from Toronto were 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 4.45 p.m., the _Chicora_ taking the morning trip from Lewiston.

This was a very considerable increase, being in fact a doubling of the previous service, and although the traffic did not at first justify it, the trade soon began to show signs of building up, the new steamer proving herself a valuable addition by her higher speed, larger capacity for pa.s.sengers and with running expenses practically the same.

The arrangements for the militia at the camp at Niagara in these early days were in the charge of Lt.-Col. Robert Denison, one of the Denison family, who have taken so large a part in the military annals of the country, and an uncle of Lt.-Col. George T. Denison.

Col. ”Bob” as he was most frequently called, was the Brigade Major for the Western District with his headquarters in the ”_Old Fort_” at Toronto in the original ”Officers Quarters” building which had been military headquarters for the Province since 1813. This old building is still in existence and is to be preserved as part of the restoration of the Old Fort.

Unconventional and breezy in his ways, he used, referring to the fact that he had entirely lost one eye, to say that he ”had a single eye to Her Majesty's Service,” and sitting straddled, as was his habit, on a four-legged saddle shaped sort of seat that ”he was always in the saddle, ready for a call to action.”

In 1889 _Cibola_ and _Chicora_, continued their usual services with satisfaction and regularity.

The Observation Train service of the New York Central Railway increased much in importance as also the transfer between Lewiston and Queenston. A smart little steamer was purchased to specially fill these services.

Following our habit we searched for some name which would be appropriate to the conditions.

The ”Relations des Jesuits” are the reports sent back to France between 1616 and 1672 by the devoted Jesuit priests who had come over in the early French Regime and worked among the Indians for their Christianization. Much information is given in these conditions among the tribes, and concerning the geography of the country.

One of these, _Pere Lallement_, reports that in 1642 an ”_Onguiaara_” tribe of Indians were living between the two lower lakes on a river bearing the same name as the tribe. Later on the Great Falls on this river are mentioned as the ”_Ongiara Cataractes_.” This name of _Ongiara_, which was the earliest by which the river was known among the Indians, has since been trans.m.u.ted by the whites into its present name Niagara.

We therefore named the little steamer _Ongiara_ as being appropriate to the history of her surroundings, and to her duties between the original portage routes of Indian and historic periods at the landings at Lewiston and Queenston.

CHAPTER XIV.

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE ON THE LET HER B.--AS TOLD BY HER CAPTAIN-OWNER.

During 1889 we had the pleasure of a visit from Captain George B. Boynton, the former owner of _Chicora_ in her blockade running days, who was delighted to renew acquaintance with his early ally. He gave us many reminiscenses of that stirring period, the narration of them cannot be done better than by giving extract by courteous permission of the publisher from his narrative as afterwards contained[5] under the heading ”Looking for Trouble.” Copyright, 1911, by _Adventure Magazine_, the Ridgway Company.

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